CANADIAN: Polarized neutron reflectometery of MnGe thin film in in-plane magnetic fields

MnGe is a chiral magnetic material that potentially possesses multiple interesting topological states. Although the cubic B20 phase is not thermodynamically stable in bulk form, single orientation films can be grown on Si substrates. The in-plane magnetic phase diagram is not fully understood. We proposed to use polarized neutron reflectometery to measure the magnetic structure of high-quality MnGe films grown by molecular beam epitaxy on Si(111) substrates to reveal the structure of an unidentified phase in a pocket near the magnetic ordering temperature, which may correspond to 2-dimensional topological structures known as skyrmions. We will investigate how finite size effects affect the competition between helicoids and skyrmions and potentially find evidence for a novel chiral interaction predicted to exist in MnGe.